Rutland County Council has appointed the national charity Shaw Trust to set up and help run the Rutland Local Involvement Network (LINk).

Each local authority in the country which provides social services is required by Government legislation to contract an organisation, known as a host, to set up and then run a LINk.

The Rutland LINk will involve a wide range of people, groups and organisations from across the county. Run by local individuals and groups with support from Shaw Trust, the aim is to find out what people want and to monitor local services. It is up to members of the community, with the support of its host, to decide how they want their LINk to be run and what issues they want to focus on.

Colin Foster, head of adult social care at Rutland County Council, said: "We are delighted to have been able to appoint the Shaw Trust as the organisation to set up and support Rutland LINk.

"Shaw Trust has a wealth of experience in carrying out this type of role and is committed to providing a local focus to public and patient involvement.

"The new LINk will provide people with a stronger voice on how their health and social care services are delivered and build on our record of providing services that respond to what people want."

The charity's first priority is to recruit members and determine how it will run. It will then be in a strong position to determine what Rutland's priority health and social care issues are.

Lesley Knapton, service development manager at Shaw Trust, said: "We are delighted that Rutland County Council has chosen our organisation to support the new LINk. Shaw Trust is all about enabling and empowering people to have a voice and to be heard.

"Now we will be supporting the Rutland LINk we will be encouraging many more people to get involved in shaping the health services and the social care services they receive - either as patients, carers or users of services generally."

LINks have powers to enter certain health and social care premises and assess services, require information from service commissioners and providers, collect views of service users and expect responses when recommendations are made to committees and organisations about how things can be improved.

Individuals, groups and organisations interested in signing up to the link should contact Carrie Chappell at the Shaw Trust on 07779 030554 or email carrie.chappell@shaw-trust.org.uk